Also television, movies, and music

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I’m stealing this blog. Well, not really, I have permission to take it. Still, it’s mine now.

I’m Erika, if you’ve been reading my posts, you probably know that I’ve been the one who’s done all the writing. I was a summer student at the Viking Library, but I’ve gone back to University now. (which is why I’ve been gone from here for so long, first week is crazy). The intention of this blog for the library was to try to get people to engage and use it a chance to read and write reviews. Unfortunately, the idea didn’t really take off with patrons. Fortunately for me, though, I kind of fell in love with blogging.

Did you know the Viking Library has more than just books on its shelves? We have plenty of magazines, a large collection of DVDs, lots of audio books, and three computers for patrons to enjoy as well.

If you enjoy magazines than you know how they can pile up. You feel bad throwing them out, yet you probably won’t ever read them again. Here at the library there are a variety of magazines you can take out. we have everything from Chatelaine, to Style at Home, to National Geographic, to Today’s Parent, to Outdoor Canada, to Fitness. We even have Highlights magazine for children.

Normally, we keep one year’s worth of each magazine so if you remember something from an old issue you wanted to re-read you can find that here as well. Taking magazines from the library means you don’t have to pay for a subscription and you can eliminate the clutter caused by old magazines.

Sometimes it can be difficult to catch all your favourite T.V. shows at the time they air and purchasing the disc sets can be expensive. The solution is to borrow them from the library. The library has plenty of seasons of shows like Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, the Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones, Pretty Little Liars, Duck Dynasty, Downton Abbey, Vikings and more.

The same can be said for movies. Buying them is expensive and stores that rent them out are becoming hard to find. The Library has a large collection of new and old movies for you to enjoy. There’s something here for people of all ages and interest groups. We recently added some new children’s movies like Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda to our collection.

Do you do a lot of driving? If so you might be getting bored of listening to the radio, which doesn’t even always work. Audio books can be a pleasant change. Audio books are discs with a recording of a book on them and they can be listened to in almost any vehicle or C.D player. We have a large collection of genres and authors, you’ll surely find something to keep you interested on the road.

If you don’t own a computer, or a computer isn’t available to you at the moment, the three computers at the Viking Library are free for you to use. You don’t even have to have a library card. Our computers have internet access and are connected to printers so you can do all your printing for a small charge.

Come to the library and check out these great collections today! And of course you can take out some good old fashioned books while you’re here too.

Feel free to email (librarian@vikinglibrary.ab.ca) or call (780-336-4992) us with any questions about these features or the library’s services in general.

Welcome to Great (reading) Expectations, the official blog of the Viking Municipal Library. We created this blog as a way to get library patrons and staff to connect with the library and each other. It is intended to be a place where anyone can come to write or read about something they saw or would like to see at the library as well as weigh in on current issues regarding reading. We encourage any person of any age or reading level to read and contribute to this blog.

Here at the library, we know how hard it can be to decide on a good book to read. And we know how helpful a review can be when deciding whether or not to read a book, watch a movie, or listen to an audio book. So, we created our blog to help with that.

Anyone who has read, watched, or listened to material from the library (or material they ordered from another library) is encouraged to write a short (or long) review, critique, or recommendation and submit it to us. You can submit your writing over email (librarian@vikinglibrary.ab.ca) or bring us a handwritten copy and we will type it up for you. All you have to do is write and submit to us and we will do all the rest. If you don’t want your name attached to the review, don’t worry, everything can stay completely anonymous.

What if you’re not quite ready, or don’t have the time to write an actual review? Well, you can simply leave a recommendation of the book’s title and author with us. We will hopefully be adding a list of patron-recommended books on this very blog every so often. Or you can leave a comment on a post by someone else, either thanking them for the recommendation or giving your opinion on a book they reviewed. We encourage everyone, children and adults alike to contribute to this blog.

And it doesn’t have to just be reviews. If you want to weigh in on the current “print vs eBooks debate” this would be the perfect place to do it. Or maybe you want to offer an opinion about reading in schools, or the need for libraries, or even what books and movies should or should not be allowed in schools and libraries. Once again this is the perfect place.

Our hope with this blog is to get any and all patrons (and even people who do not have a library card) to connect more with their local library. It is important to us that children and adults are enjoying and understanding literature. Often, writing about what you’ve read or watched is a step towards understanding it on a deeper level. But don’t worry, this isn’t a school book report, you can have fun doing it!